


His Royal Majesty Somnus Lucis Caelum's Defiance of the Divine Will

by vanitaslaughing



Series: "If the next one's a flesh-eating ghoul again, I'll end the monarchy myself"—Cor Leonis, M.E.756 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Defying destiny, F/M, Immortality, Making Up, Spirits, W... well i mean. by given definition of life/death, somnus aera and ardyn take the third option
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 12:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18571453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanitaslaughing/pseuds/vanitaslaughing
Summary: He grabs his older brother, his sister-in-law and his protector and goes to challenge fate because the gods expect a waltz for the planet's fate.But Somnus learned how to tap-dance, and by the Crystal's thrice-damned light, he's going to tap-dance right on top of the Draconian if he has to.Not that it goes exactly as he and the others thought it would go.





	His Royal Majesty Somnus Lucis Caelum's Defiance of the Divine Will

“Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Bash your sword against the Crystal and then stomp on the shards while the Bladekeeper sobs— _are you insane?”_

He was still leaning against the pillar, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He didn’t have to look around the corner to see that despite the fact that they were 30 and 27 now, Aera Mirus Fleuret had her hands curled into fists and a seething look of sheer indignation on her face. That was one thing that had never quite changed over the years, and though they had fallen apart over differing opinions in the recent times, he was rather happy to say that the second person who knew the holy blessed Oracle quite enjoyed digging her hands into mud when she thought she was on her own was himself.

Somnus Lucis Caelum sighed heavily and finally peeled himself off the pillar. Turned around. Looked at his soon-to-be sister-in-law.

“No, I can assure you I am in full control of my mental facilities. Which cannot quite be said of the Hexatheon—you and I both know Ardyn is unfit to sit the throne.”

“It is ordained—“

He could have done many things. Staged a coup, taken the throne he wanted so desperately to prove himself. Could have ordered Gilgamesh to pack up and _leave_ as the fledgling country he had mentally mapped out burned while his family failed to contain the plague. Could have packed up himself and retired to a nice fishing village—he had one in mind, had actually befriended some of the locals despite the fact that he was Lord Somnus, he who burnt the very earth he walked upon.

Instead, he ran over to Aera as if they were children again, and slammed his hands onto her shoulders. Shook her slightly; even though in the past it had always been her who had shaken him whenever she wanted his undivided attention. Neither of them really ever reached up to Ardyn which was likely why they had started doing this.

“Ordained!? It took me too long to realise, but don’t you think there’s something odd about this entire situation? Ardyn’s sick—don’t even _try_ denying it. I know my brother even if he eludes my every attempt to drag him home to get him to rest. The Bladekeeper, blessed be His name, would put a sick man on a throne in a country wrecked by illness? Sure! Let’s go with that. Assume I stand aside and watch as my brother kills himself in an attempt to do as the Hexatheon bids him do. I would be there holding your hand at his funeral, and then the throne would fall to you, in a country shattered by the loss of its beloved Healer King. What then, Aera? Where do we go from that? Walk out hand in hand and continue his quest in his stead? Would you demand my service as soldier to this country you and my brother founded? Would you have us walk to the ends of the earth to help the people? You cannot _heal_ them. You can cleanse the early onset. What can I do? Protect you? For how long? What then, Aera, when inevitably something or someone runs me through, tears a hole in my guts, and I bleed out in an attempt to protect you? You’ll be standing in the fields all alone, with the plague rampant, your beloved dead, and the soldier that swore himself to your cause dead as well! Her Royal Majesty Aera Mirus Fleuret, First Queen of Lucis—and you have naught else but that. Is that what the gods want you to do?”

She opened her mouth but said nothing.

Somnus on the other hand wasn’t done. “Besides, you just told me they expect several things to happen. Ardyn, as monster on a throne? With me on the sidelines? _Please._ They might as well have drawn a target on Ardyn’s forehead and given me a bow that never misses. _Do these high and mighty gods truly believe I would kill my own_ _ **damned**_ _brother for political gain!?”_

“Somnus?”

“Sure! We have had our disagreements—I cannot think of a single pair of brothers who has not! There were some godawful things I tossed at him the last time we met, and he might see my attempts to get him home for some rest as aggression, which is fair! But Aera, _think,_ just for a second. Would I _truly_ kill Ardyn? Would I dance when the Hexatheon tells me to dance? We’re not puppets on strings!”

She looked… shocked. She looked honestly shocked, as if she would have expected him to walk away and plan a fratricide. Somnus meanwhile considered the fishing trip again. Maybe napping in a wheat field. Anything but this.

“I will not prostrate myself before gods who send my brother to his death. There has to be a way to make him understand that his pointless sacrifice would earn him and Eos nothing.”

He let go of her shoulders and whirled around on his heels, ready to stomp off and brood somewhere in peace until he fell asleep sitting wherever he chose to sit down.

Aera grabbed his arm before he could stomp off, however. Her eyes were wide, she was paler than usual, but there was a faint smile on her lips.

“I… spoke to early. You are not insane. You are absolutely a danger to yourself and everyone else involved, but perhaps… perhaps we can work together. I could always… mediate between Ardyn and you. Just as Ardyn always mediated between us when we were children.”

* * *

_Getting_ Ardyn home proved harder than getting him to listen. It took them a combined force of Aera begging and Gilgamesh proceeding to grab the wayward healer and carrying him home. It was perhaps not the best use for his bodyguard and beloved teacher, Somnus reckoned as the man put Ardyn back down on his feet while Aera fretted over him profusely, but still he nodded at the man gratefully.

It had taken them two weeks to even get Ardyn. Which was enough time between Aera and Somnus to have come up with a plan while people attempted to track down Ardyn—and enough time for an indignant Bladekeeper to make demands of Somnus in his sleep.

“Good afternoon, brother.”

Ardyn harrumphed, crossing his arms. The man looked _tired._ Too tired. It reminded him of times back when nightmares kept him up, usually relating to the boundless darkness that always swam on the edge of his vision.

Somnus sighed. “I assume neither of you filled him in, then?”

“You didn’t say you were sending _him_ along to snatch Ardyn off his feet like this!”

“You needed a protector, and we needed some more persuasive force. Relax, Aera—the Blademaster does not harm people unless I specifically order him to or something threatens to compromise the mission.” He tapped his foot, then gestured at the table. “Would you care joining me for a game of chess while we talk?”

They had parted threatening one another last time they had met on equal grounds. Somnus hated the irresponsible martyrdom that Ardyn was subjecting himself to; Ardyn in turn hated the ruthless sweep that Somnus had initiated. They had argued many times, but that parting had felt final. The next time they met they both knew either someone was going to get hurt or they would choose to never talk to one another again. A game of chess was how they had fixed their disagreements in the past, and Ardyn reluctantly joined his brother at Aera’s behest.

For the time being, Somnus was winning. He merely asked about his travels, whether he was making a dent in the plague’s sheer numbers of afflicted or not, and Ardyn hesitantly answered. He was making a difference, yes—but he did not look well, Aera noted. Somnus too agreed that perhaps this approach was the wrong one, and colour returned to Ardyn’s face at some point where he angrily retorted that perhaps burning the countryside was also not the best approach.

Somnus put his hand back into his lap in that very moment. He was a few moves from winning, but rather than continuing this pointless game, he thought about it.

Then he reached forward and toppled his own king. Ardyn raised an eyebrow.

“I concede defeat. My approach is not the best—but neither is yours. Apart, we play this endless game of chess as the Hexatheon would will us to. They have chosen, Ardyn. And They have chosen you for everything. A throne. But not the throne you would hesitantly take for the good of the people. A throne of darkness They would have you take, with me on the throne that we thought They were choosing for.”

Ardyn rolled his eyes. “We are not children any longer, Somnus. If you desire the throne so much, I will not claim it even if gods-given as long as you promise to stop your pointless blazing rampage. I would rather we settle this civilly than settling it like furious children fighting each other.”

Somnus rolled his eyes as well. “I don’t _care_ for that throne. Not any longer. But I will not stand by and watch you ruin yourself for the good of the people at the behest of gods that would toss you away like a broken blade. You are already breaking, brother—I can see that much.”

Ardyn paled again, and Somnus knew that he had cornered his brother now. Aera, sitting beside Ardyn, put a hand on her fiancé’s shoulder and shot a scowl at her soon-to-be brother-in-law.

“What he’s trying to say, Ardyn, is… perhaps we all approached this issue wrong. And now the Bladekeeper has made his call.”

“How, pray tell then, are we to proceed from here if not under the guidance of the choice?”

Somnus cracked a grin.

“I say we ignore the Hexatheon. There has to be a middle ground for us to agree on—something that saves many people but does not end with you dead on their behalf—and something that we can do about the plague.”

“Have you gone mad?”

“Again with the madness. And as I told my beloved sister-in-law, I am in full control of my mental facilities.”

* * *

A joint leadership was more than he would have expected out of someone as stubborn as Ardyn.

What was even more fascinating was that they both agreed on common ground.

Ardyn and Aera were going to save those who were still human.

Somnus and the army were to burn everything that had already turned to the ground. They parted in good spirits after Ardyn and Aera finally got to have their dream wedding; the newlyweds taking off together to heal those they could and spread word that all were welcome—Somnus and Gilgamesh meanwhile would rally the people to help slay the avatars of the plague, the horrid creatures that haunted the night.

* * *

The next five years passed quickly and quietly. The plague seemingly went back and Somnus established borders around cleansed countrysides. The people called it the Heart of Lucis and soon merely started calling it Lucis. He met Ardyn and Aera once or twice when their paths crossed; once somewhere in the countryside where the two of them had taken a break from their travels. The second time they met in the fishing village—unfortunately for Somnus, he was fast asleep at the dock leaning against the woman who had tried teaching him how to fish. Eirene woke him with a laugh, and most unfortunately for Somnus she was soon adopted into Aera and Ardyn’s personal space. So much for a peaceful afternoon, he mumbled that day but found himself smiling with them.

People still feared him, but they were starting to understand that his early burning of the sick and the turned alike had been a desperate attempt to cull the plague’s overwhelming numbers. King Ardyn and King Somnus—not exactly what the gods had wanted them to do, but it felt right for the two of them. They had combined compassion and ruthlessness into something quite dangerous, and every time they were close to the Crystal they all felt the indignation emanating from it.

But five years later, they met again in the throne room.

Lucis they could save. Perhaps the entire continent if they had to—but there were islands and another continent far beyond their reach. Aera had received a letter from her much younger brother Corvus, a plea for help because the plague was overrunning her ancestral home. Aera was not liable to leave her teenager brother to fend for himself, but there was only so much they could do.

Thus they met—Ardyn, Aera, Somnus and Gilgamesh. The Crystal glimmered behind them, and it was Somnus himself who was twisting the ring on his finger nervously. He knew that just a few rooms away, Eirene waited for him to come back in one piece, but somehow Somnus couldn’t shake the feeling that he would not be leaving this room alive.

“This was a good angle to tackle this with, but we did forget… the greater picture,” Ardyn eventually broke the awkward silence with these words and a heavy sigh. “Namely the rest of the planet. I assume we all reached the same conclusion?”

“The Crystal,” Aera, Gilgamesh and Somnus said at the same time, and Ardyn nodded.

The people called him the Healer King—they called Somnus the Founder King. Though he had the sneaking suspicion that it might have been the Flame King at some point.

“We just… have a small issue with utilising the Crystal.”

“The Bladekeeper,” Somnus sighed and crossed his arms. Aera was very pointedly staring at his wedding band—neither her nor Ardyn knew about this officially, though that non-intrusive and frankly rather bland silver ring should have told them all they needed to know. It looked kind of silly next to them and their gold ones. Still, he gestured vaguely, and Ardyn, too, noticed the ring. “We do not have any idea how to wrest control of the Crystal from him, do we?”

Aera bit her lip. “As things stand, we rebelled against what was ordained. Mortals cannot prosper without the goodwill of the divine, or so I always believed. I was… proven wrong. There has to be something we can do.”

The three royals fell silent as they thought.

Surprisingly enough, it was Gilgamesh who eventually quietly suggested a solution. “Perhaps we ought to bargain with the Bladekeeper. It was us who went against divine decrees—not the rest of Eos.”

They all turned to look at the Crystal.

Aera insisted she had to go to the Crystal on her own, but Somnus rushed after her when she was halfway up the stairs because she was trembling.

“What are you doing, idiot,” she hissed at him.

“I remember you helping me up the stairs when I broke my leg and several of my ribs back when we were children. Let me return the favour, sister.”

She clicked her tongue angrily. “When did you start calling me sister?”

“Perhaps I am getting sentimental with age.”

“You’re 35. And from the way you’re acting about to be a father.”

“Touché. Nothing goes past you, Aera.”

They reached the top. Aera got on her knees, her hands clasped in silent prayer. For the longest time nothing happened.

And then it felt as if someone had smashed a club across the back of his head. Somnus staggered, Aera groaned—and on the bottom of the stairs Ardyn moaned and held onto Gilgamesh’s arm. The Blademaster, too, staggered for a split second but caught himself again.

It was a booming, angry voice that they tried to reason with. This was worse than trying to get Ardyn to stop killing himself, was worse than every single attempt Somnus had made in his life to get Gilgamesh to train him. They had gone against the will of the gods; why on earth should the gods answer them and their plea now? They tried to reason that it was ever the mortals’ urge to go against what destiny laid out for them, was ever their desire to climb high and high until there was nothing left to climb.

They hadn’t acted because they wanted to outdo the divine. They had acted because they loved their people, because they loved Eos. But there were too many myriad souls left to suffer, and they were only four mortals. In order to help the planet they loved they would need help from the divine they had once shunned, a realisation that came too late for them now.

They would do anything.

That made the Bladekeeper pause, and Somnus knew that this was the end of the line for him. If the Bladekeeper demanded blood then he would get it—from Somnus. That was the lot of a soldier.

“ _If thou wouldst save Eos from her darkness, then dost thou as thou willst—but know, mortals, that a price must be paid. One to control the Crystal—and the rest to live without end. The finality of death. The permission to pass on. That is the price thou wouldst pay for thine insolence and for Eos.”_

Mortals were designed to die at the will of the gods, Bahamut had argued not too long ago. Taking the liberty of death away from mortals was perhaps the ultimate form of punishment, Somnus realised with a cold shudder—many desired to avoid death for as long as they could, but death was the only constant a mortal life had. They would be stuck forever.

But being stuck until the end of time, until the very collapse of reality… was a small price to pay if it purged the star of its scourge.

Aera stood up. “I will do it. It is the Oracle’s calling to heed the voice of the divine—it should be me urging the Crystal on.” She glared at Somnus, a small order for him to get the hell away.

But rather than leave, Somnus shook his head. “Going by that logic, it should be Ardyn up here. No, Aera. We agreed to work together to keep him and the planet safe—we agreed to do everything for the people even when we were children. Idiotic children pushing each other into ponds, mind, but I remember that promise. The same day we said we would find a way to use our magic in tandem to overpower Ardyn to get everything we ever wanted from the kitchens. We failed at that—but can we fail at this?” He offered her a hand. “How about it, sister dearest? One last hurrah?”

Aera stared at him for a moment, and then closed her eyes with a smile. “You didn’t even invite us to your wedding.”

“It was nothing grand or glamorous, I’m afraid. Just her, me, her father, Gilgamesh, and the sea at sunset.”

“Are you certain of this, Somnus? There is no telling what will happen. You could still leave. You could stay until your child is born.”

“You called me a flighty bastard who cannot stand by his decisions once. Hells, I can count the things I have ever been absolutely certain of on one hand. That we would either overpower Ardyn together or help him save the planet. That I wanted to be taken in as the Blademaster’s pupil. That I would do anything to purge our star of its scourge. That I love Eirene. And that I will not turn tail and let my beloved sister do this on her own.”

A tear ran down her face as she finally took his hand. “This room… it will be… dangerous.”

He understood what she meant, because in the same moment he heard Ardyn furiously demand Aera and Somnus come down here while they thought about this. Somnus turned his head slightly and made eye contact with Gilgamesh.

“Take my brother and leave this room. Do not let him back in until you yourself judge the situation safe. That, my friend, is my final order to you.”

“Somnus! Aera!”

Aera also turned her head to look at Ardyn, who was currently trying to wrestle Gilgamesh off him. The soldier himself had his lips pressed together so hard they were barely more than a thin line.

“I love you, Ardyn,” was all she said before she turned back to the Crystal, and Somnus did the same. “But I cannot in good conscience let you die for the planet. Together, then, brother?”

“Together.”

They reached for the Crystal when they heard Ardyn let out one last utterly indignant demand to be let down and the door falling shut.

The light was blinding as they asked for the power to purge.

And for a split moment, all he felt was white hot agony that burnt away everything. The dark. The sickness. His own flesh and bone.

* * *

Somnus Lucis Caelum had not expected to open his eyes again—but there was a most annoying noise that pulled him back from the sea of light.

Beside him, he heard Aera groan as well.

“Ghh. And here we made… such a terribly dramatic show of… using that Crystal’s power,” he wheezed as he pushed himself off the ground and back to his feet. Aera followed suit, but she staggered to the side.

Off the stairs. Somnus tried reaching for her but his entire body felt sluggish, as if it didn’t belong.

Aera didn’t fall.

She continued floating there where her feet would have normally slipped off the stairs, and a terrified squeak escaped her. Somnus meanwhile was staring at his own arm—he could see the floor through it. He could see that both their rings were in front of the throne, in front of the Crystal, but nothing else remained. The gears started turning in his head as Aera’s terrified squeak turned into hysterically demanding an answer to what the hell was going on. Then it clicked.

He grabbed her hands and pulled her in, bonked their foreheads together. It hurt. It definitely should not have hurt.

“The price, Aera. The price! The finality of death. The permission to pass on.”

“That doesn’t explain what—“

“It does, idiot! The finality of death assumes there is a heart to cease beating! The permission to pass on—the Crystal burnt our bodies away and left naught but our souls behind!”

Aera screamed. She was joined by a familiar voice calling her name.

Ardyn and Gilgamesh ran into the throne room, and Aera stumbled down the stairs.

Ardyn passed through her as they ran towards each other.

So that was their lot, Somnus realised with a jolt of terror as he looked at the rings on the ground. Only then did he realise there was a third ring, one that definitely did not belong. Perfectly black, between the gold and silver rings. Likely something that the gods would have given the one to claim the throne.

“Three weeks!?”

“Three weeks,” Ardyn confirmed downstairs. “Reports are coming in, and it seems that the plague and the Daemons have completely vanished. Your brother wrote another letter—I have not yet replied. I did not have the heart to tell him of your passing.” Somnus looked down and found his brother staring at him. He shrugged, and Ardyn narrowed his eyes. “You did not invite us to the wedding.”

Somnus rolled his eyes. “Aera already chastised me for that. Move on to the next point, Ardyn.”

“You also failed to inform us that your wife was expecting your child. Oh, pardon, your _children._ Congratulations, brother—you are now, post-mortem, father to two healthy sons.”

* * *

“Okay, wait, hold on.” The man at the campfire waved his meat skewer through the air and pointed it at Somnus in an almost accusatory way. “The story goes that the Founder King and the First Oracle died, and the Healer King raised his brother’s child. Singular. A son. Morpheus Lucis Caelum II, in fact.”

“Children die,” Somnus deadpanned at the advisor, “and Fotis Lucis Caelum did not live past sixteen summers. while one plague we did indeed wipe out we did, in fact, not take care of any other sickness. Stories tend to get overdramaticised over time—especially when saving the world is involved, boy. Who wants to hear how the Founder King’s twins were torn apart after sixteen years of being raised by their uncle by a complicated bout of sickness?”

“Well, first off, it would explain quite a few things about the second king! Why he meticulously wrote down how to find his father, his uncle and his aunt to make sure his own child would get to meet them! If he lost a brother then he would of course cling to the immortal family!”

Somnus shrugged, and Aera smacked the back of his head. Dying at 35 and 32 had not made them any more mature, though most of their bickering was based on the fact that they did not have anything else to do in their little forest. Travelling with the 114th Prince of Lucis and his fascinating mismatched group of protectors was the most refreshing thing that had happened to Somnus since the 12th Prince of Lucis had tried hitting on Aera for no less than three days before Ardyn threw him and his protector out of the forest.

“You’ve got a point, Ignis. Morpheus was definitely affected by his mother and his brother both passing from the same sickness—and we chose our moment of departure admittedly poorly. Not two years later, Ardyn and Gilgamesh packed their belongings and we left to seclude ourselves. After all, why should the living deal with that which cannot die?”

A heavy sigh—the brown-haired young man was sharp but he was also quite sick of dealing with this mess. Somnus had snatched the piece of paper from Prince Noctis’ pockets before he and the others had gone to check one last thing out before they entered Insomnia tomorrow.

It likely was another nest of ghouls, Ardyn had sighed as he was roped into the mess as well. Which had left Somnus and Aera at camp with the advisor. An advisor who had a _very_ sharp interest in the story proper. Even though Aera and Somnus had told him most of that back in the forest already. But Ignis desired the specifics.

“Okay, fine. Fine. Morpheus Lucis Caelum II had a brother. I can live with that. What I do not understand is how you never had children yourself, Lady Aera.”

“Have you tried conceiving a child on the road, when every day and night you were beset by people seeking succour?”

Ignis opened his mouth. Closed it again.

“I would have loved having children of my own—I did in fact spend time with my own niece for about a year. Corvus was none too pleased about that. But frankly, there were only two places Ardyn would have managed to get me into the mood. One, back home. Two, in an old ruin. Most of these unfortunately had hundreds upon thousands of skeletons and usually some sort of revenant around, and that was not accounting for the Daemons themselves. I would have loved having children! But I was not desperate enough to either risk death _or_ having to explain myself to someone who found us in the middle of the act.”

Somewhere in the distance, Cor was complaining about ghouls again. Somnus broke into loud laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> Fotis and Eirene should be names that are familiar to you if you read my other works
> 
> Morpheus on the other hand is my good friend and fellow bastard jade304's boy she Graciously allowed me to borrow for the cryptid au


End file.
